Arsenal went to great lengths to tempt Mykhaylo Mudryk to sign for them but Chelsea stumped their London rivals with a mammoth contract offer to beat them to his signature
Chelsea blew Arsenal out of the water with a staggering salary package that reportedly doubled what Mykhaylo Mudryk would have earned at the Emirates.
The Ukrainian winger made the shock move to turn his back on a potential switch to the Gunners to instead put pen to paper on an eight-and-a-half year contract at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have forked out £88million to sign the 22-year-old from Shakhtar Donetsk – £61.5m of which is guaranteed, with a further £26.5m due in add-ons or potential bonuses.
Mudryk had made a number of admiring glances in Arsenal’s direction and seemed to be keen on a switch to North London, yet Chelsea’s astonishing contract offer proved too good to turn down.
According to the Independent, Arsenal had tabled an offer to Mudryk worth £50,000-per-week. Yet Chelsea stumped their London rivals by doubling that figure, tempting Mudryk with a deal worth £100,000-per-week which he was delighted to agree to.
However, Shakhtar’s CEO Sergei Palkin has revealed Arsenal were actually “closer” to a deal for Mudryk than Chelsea until a final meeting held with Blues co-owner Behdad Eghbali and transfer chief Paul Winstanley. Palkin told The Athletic that Arsenal had matched Chelsea’s offer in terms of transfer fee, only that the bonus terms of Chelsea’s bid were more achievable, therefore more favourable to Shakhtar.
He also claimed Arsenal had been tapping up Mudryk for months by contacting the player prior to getting permission from Shakhtar, while the Gunners had three face-to-face meetings to try and complete a deal.
Ultimately it came down to a 10-hour meeting where Chelsea laid out their entire project for the next 4-5 years which swung Mudryk into signing for the club and leaving Arsenal with nothing to show for their efforts.
Speaking of that meeting and Chelsea’s negotiations, Palkin added: “They [Chelsea’s owners] would like to change a lot. So when they explain to you the whole story and you look for the next two, three, four, five years, then you see they have a serious project.
“I believe they will build one of the best clubs in the world because I am telling you, they are very serious in all directions: sports science, the stadium side, the commercial side, on all things. For us, they looked very ambitious.”
SOURCE: dailystar.co.uk
